The present invention pertains to a bogie for high-speed railborne vehicles, in which the wheel sets are attached to and guided on the bogie frame by means of double leaf spring wheel forks acting on the axle bearings, elastic intermediate bearings are being provided between the double leaf spring wheel forks and axle bearings or bogie frame, and a vertical primary spring is arranged between each axle bearing and the bogie frame.
Bogies of the class described above are known, for example, from West German Patent No. DE-PS 17,55,072. The longitudinal beams of the bogie frame are supported via springs on axle bearing housings of the wheel sets. These axle bearing housings are guided by two spring leaf wheel forks that are arranged in different planes one above the other and are parallel to one another. The ends of the spring leaf wheel forks facing away from the axle bearing housings are rigidly connected, without clearance or friction, to a fixed block that is part of the bogie frame. An integrally cast lug extending horizontally in the longitudinal direction between the free ends of the wheel fork spring leaves, having a vertical bore expanding symmetrically in the upward and downward directions and with a bushing made of elastic material in said bore, is arranged at each axle bearing housing. Clamping rings with a conical outer jacket can be inserted from the top and bottom, concentrically to the bushing, with the small end faces of said clamping rings facing each other. The free ends of the wheel fork spring leaves are preferably pressed against the upper and lower outer larger end faces of said clamping rings by means of a necked-down bolt. The clamping rings and the free ends of the wheel fork spring leaves can be assembled into a unit supported via the bushing against the axle bearing housing. This arrangement improves the running properties of a railborne vehicle at high speeds due to the resilient support of the spring leaf wheel fork attachment to the axle bearing housing, because a certain automatic radial adjustment of the wheel sets can be achieved. Due to the arrangement of the intermediate rubber bearing, the resonance range of the bogie can be shifted into a speed range which experience has shown is surpassed in a short time on start, i.e., which does not correspond to the travel speed of the railborne vehicle. The resonance range can be accurately adjusted by fixing the clamping rings at more closely or more widely spaced locations from each other in the radial direction, so that more or less extensive deformation of the bushing consisting of elastic material takes place.
This prior art wheel set guide mechanism represents a compromise between stable, relatively quiet running of the wheel set over straight sections and curve travel running with the lowest possible wear and force, because longitudinally rigid wheel set guiding leads to only a small radial adjustment of the wheel sets in the curve while ensuring high stability of travel over straight sections. The stability of travel and consequently the top speed are very substantially reduced in the case of a longitudinally soft wheel set which is provided for guiding in order to achieve substantially improved radial adjustment of the wheel sets and weak tracking forces in curves. Consequently, to reach high speed over straight sections, the most rigid possible longitudinal connection of the wheel sets is selected. This in turn leads to poorer radial adjustment of the wheel sets on curves and consequently to stronger tracking forces and increased wheel flange wear. However, if the radial adjustment of the wheel sets is to be improved, reduction of the stable, quiet straight travel of the wheel sets over straight sections and consequently lower top speed must be accepted.